Giant Woman
by alienyouthct
Summary: "I feel like I'm missing something here. Who or what is a Crystal Gem?" "I don't know what hole he grew up in, but if he really doesn't know… let's not spoil the surprise for him."
1. Chapter 1

Title: _Giant Woman  
_ Author: JoeHundredaire  
Rating: R/FR18  
Disclaimer: _Steven Universe_ and all associated characters and concepts are the property of Rebecca Sugar and Cartoon Network. _Mass Effect_ , its sequels, and all the characters and concepts that appear spanning them are the property of BioWare. Not mine, don't sue, and so forth and so on.  
Summary: "I feel like I'm missing something here. Who or what is a Crystal Gem?" "I don't know what hole he grew up in, but if he really doesn't know… let's not spoil the surprise for him."  
Joe's Note: This is the second major draft of this idea from me, and hopefully more of a winner than the first version. I think the entire discussion started while I was drunk and watching _Steven Universe_ with a friend of mine who cosplays as Commander Shepard. We found ourselves pondering how awkward fusion would be for Shepard, what with her inability to dance and all… and then began spitballing ideas for a universe where the Gems are around for the return of the Reapers. This is what fell out. Enjoy.  
Dedications & Thanks: To Nicholas, Alexander, Howard, MJ, Daniel, Christopher, Jason, Chris, George, Koby, Judedeath, Ken, Thyatira, William, Wil, Thomas, Jack, Pat, Chris, Mitch, and Jess for sponsoring me on , and making it easier for me to spend more of my time writing.

* * *

"You're Doctor Warren, the one in charge of the excavation. Do you know what happened to the beacon?"

"It was moved to the spaceport this morning. Manuel and I stayed behind to help pack up the camp. When the attack came, the marines held them off long enough for us to hide. They gave their lives to save us."

Nodding solemnly, Commander Yvonne Shepard let her eyes wander around the inside of the prefab, raising an eyebrow as her gaze came to rest on a slightly older man who was lying sprawled out on a cot. "How the hell is he managing to sleep through all of this?"

Doctor Warren let out a nervous chuckle before rubbing the back of her head sheepishly. "He's, uh, not asleep. He's unconscious. Manuel forgot to take his medication today and when all the excitement began, one of the private security consultants got a bit irritated with him. It's not how I would have handled things, but at least he's not going to get in any trouble this way."

"…right." Yvonne shot another look over at the man before shrugging. To be fair, it was probably what she would have done in the same situation. Well, maybe not. It would depend on how annoying the man was being. Glancing back over her shoulder and out the open prefab door, she grimaced. "I'm assuming they left you here and went out to help the marines? Brave of them, especially considering they were facing a completely unknown enemy."

Much to Yvonne's surprise, Warren shook her head in response. "No, they left as soon as everything began, before the attackers got this far. The Gems were being paid to guard the beacon, not us, and so that was their priority. I wish we'd gone with it; it's probably the safest place on Eden Prime right now."

Her first thought was to be offended that someone thought there was a place safer than around her. After all, she was an N7 Infiltrator, the Lioness of Elysium, and potentially the first human Spectre. Then the doctor's second sentence processed, and Yvonne's eyes went wide. There were Gems on Eden Prime? Why hadn't Anderson told her? For that matter, why hadn't they let her know they were being stationed there? Weren't they supposed to be… focus. Conflict resolution now, personal matters later. "This is probably going to sound terrible, but I hope they're still getting attacked when we catch up with them." Blinking owlishly, Yvonne looked over at Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, who at least had the good grace to blush faintly. "Sorry. But… have you ever gotten to see one of the Crystal Gems fight? Because I haven't. And I want to."

Yvonne could only chuckle softly as she let her hand drift down to rest on her stomach. Oh yes, she'd seen one of the Crystal Gems fight before. She'd seen them all fight before. She'd trained against them, and fought alongside them to boot. The Systems Alliance must have done one hell of a job sanitizing her origins, she mused, if she could be in the presence of a Crystal Gems fangirl and not be instantly recognized. Thank God for widespread cosmetic gene mods; nobody even blinked at naturally pink hair anymore these days. "That's classified, soldier, but it sounds like you're about to get your wish. Lead us to the spaceport, Williams. And doctor? Neither the geth nor those… husks… can talk. Next time you hear a voice, stick your head out. The last thing you need is someone destroying the door controls while trying to hack their way in."

Suitably chastised, Doctor Warren nodded sheepishly in response and then Yvonne was back in motion, her ad-hoc squad forming up behind her as she spun around and marched back out of the prefab. "I feel like I'm missing something here. Who or what is a Crystal Gem?" Stumbling to a stop, Yvonne sent an incredulous look back over her left shoulder at Kaiden Alenko. "…what?"

"How do you not know-"

"Williams, wait." Turning to look back over her right shoulder, Yvonne shook her head at the flabbergasted brunette before smirking. "I don't know what cave he grew up in, but if he really doesn't know… let's not spoil the surprise for him."

Ashley nodded and chuckled before shooting a smirk of her own over at Alenko. "Yes, ma'am."

* * *

"All I wanna do is see you turn into a giant woman… a giant woman!"

"Kyanite."

"All I wanna be is someone who gets to see a giant woman…"

"Kyanite!"

"What about you, turian? Don't you want to see them turn into a giant woman too?"

Nihlus Kryik grimaced as he looked from his captor to her incredibly exasperated companions and back. If there was a single part of his day that was proceeding according to plan, he couldn't think of it. He'd been aboard the _Normandy_ to observed Yvonne Shepard and evaluate her suitability to become a Spectre. Instead of getting to watch how she handled interaction with civilians across a variety of occupations and species by supervising a transfer of a Prothean beacon into Citadel custody, they'd flown straight into a war zone. Instead of encountering any expected enemy, they'd run afoul of the geth. Instead of… well, he honestly didn't know who he'd expected to be leading them, but his own mentor wasn't it. And now Saren was dead after attempting to betray and kill him, and Nihlus was trapped from the neck down in a giant bubble of water. Trapped at the hands of an unnaturally powerful, strange blue adolescent. "If I say yes, will you release me?"

Tilting her head to the side, Kyanite regarded Nihlus thoughtfully for several seconds before shaking her head. "I'm pretty sure you're better off where you are right now. I mean, if we hadn't come back across the tram when we did, your brains would be splattered all over the deck and I'm pretty sure my Mother said that's something that can kill an organic." Turning back to the two women who were still fighting with the geth, she bounced on her toes lightly. "Giant woman! Giant woman!"

"Kid, the day I need to fuse to beat an enemy this pathetic is the day I retire and buy myself one of the farms on this mudball." Growling lowly, a towering orange and red Gem with white hair whirled and slammed her massive fist into the head of another geth trooper, destroying it utterly. Nihlus had tentatively identified her as Jasper, the largest known Gem save for the mysterious Rose Quartz. She didn't look quite like the file imagery from Shanxi, but that was to be expected when dealing with a species of shapeshifters. "And I swear on the stars, Lazuli, that if you ever want to have another gemling with me, you're going to give up this stupid 'working mother' thing of yours. 'Oh, we don't need to raise her ourselves. Steven will do a great job taking care of her.' Well look how that turned out!"

"What, are you saying there's something wrong with her because she remembers all the songs he taught her when she was growing up?" Watching her single-handedly fight a half-dozen geth at the same time, it was easy for Nihlus to understand why Lapis Lazuli was the Gem that his people feared the most. While incredibly powerful, most of the Gems could only engage a single target at any given time, sometimes two. Lapis's hydrokinesis, on the other hand, gave her… well, more hands. While she sometimes guided her constructs with gestures the way biotics shaped and directed their attacks, it was clearly wasn't necessary because she was currently attacking four watery arms while using her physical arms to dual wield a pair of unfamiliar - but very lethal looking - pistols. "I think it's adorable. Now if you want to talk about badly raised children, there's always Hyalite…"

Jasper let out a bark of laughter as she picked up one unfortunate geth by its legs and began swinging it back and forth, using it to beat other nearby geth into submission. "Has she stopped burping warp fields yet? I told Amethyst that it was a terrible idea to let her kid try eating eezo."

Sending her water arms arching up into the air before bringing them crashing down on top of the geth, Lapis giggled softly as she put a shot through the head of each remaining geth and then used her arms to sweep the spaceport decking clean. "See. Parental involvement clearly isn't everything when it comes to gemlings." As much as Nihlus wanted them to stop bickering and focus on the battle, especially given that his continued safety and survival was dependent on them… it was somewhat fascinating. Even after being granted an embassy on the Citadel, the humans had remained remarkably tight-lipped on the subject of their… client species, for lack of a better term. There was a very real chance that he was the first non-human to learn anything about Gem relationships, reproduction, and life cycles. Unfortunately for him, their unintentionally informative argument was brought to an abrupt halt as an insect-like geth dropship swooped by overhead, stopping just long enough to disgorge another round of troops. A significantly larger round of troops at that. "Oh for the love of… do they think numbers can make up for the fact that we're just plain better than them?"

"Probably. They're a bunch of clods. Tried to hack my robonoids, so I returned the favor." Entering the spaceport perched comfortably on the shoulder of a bright green geth of a new and far larger model than anything Nihlus had seen thus far, a youthful-looking Gem with lime green skin and greenish-yellow hair pulled back into what he believed humans called 'pigtails' surveyed the battlefield critically. Thrusting her arm out, she painted a cluster of geth troopers with a laser designator projected from her omni-tool and then cackled maniacally as her mount destroyed its kin with a single pulse cannon blast. "Yes! Feel my unbridled rage!"

…did he even really need to be here anymore? Did the galaxy even need him anymore? Nihlus watched in stunned disbelief as the three Gems - and their hijacked geth - proceeded to engage an army of opponents that he would have hesitated to tackle with a Cabal or three at his back. But just as the Gems seemed to be making headway against their numerous enemies, the geth decided to try and tilt the odds back in their favor. A faint whistling made Nihlus look up just in time to track a large object as it came crashing down out of the sky, obliterating Saren's corpse in the process. As it whirled and unfolded into some sort of massive quadrupedal geth, Lapis looked over at Jasper and chuckled nervously. "So… giant woman?"

"I should probably feel insulted that you don't think I can take that thing on my own… but I'm not sure I can take that thing on my own either. Giant woman. Peridot, cover us." Jasper thrust her arm out, waiting for Lapis to take her hand before pulling the smaller Gem toward her. Despite the seriousness of the situation, Lapis let out a soft giggle as she twirled, coming to rest with her back against Jasper's chest. Shifting the blue Gem into her other arm, Jasper dipped Lapis before leaning down and gently pressing their lips together. The pair abruptly exploded with light, their forms wavering and shifting as they merged together into-

"Eww! Mothers! Was the kiss really necessary? I'm right here, you know!" Kyanite shuddered in disgust, the lapse in concentration causing the bubble restraining Nihlus to pop. Dropping to the ground, he groaned and then rose to his feet, his eyes going wide as the glowing blob of white light began to stretch upward. Taller and taller it grew, before eventually solidifying into a massive sea foam green woman with four eyes. "I mean, woo fusion. You're still gross though."

Hunching forward, Malachite extended a quartet of watery wings from the gem on her back before straightening up with a grunt and enveloping them in some sort of glistening, bright orange material. "I still don't understand why you think we're gross but you're perfectly fine with Ruby and Sapphire being affectionate…"

Those were two names that Nihlus was familiar with. To date, they were the only Gems to visit the Citadel, the only Gems to have spoken directly with the Council, and the sole observed instance of fusion outside of the Relay 314 Incident. The fact that they were a couple - like Jasper and Lapis evidently were - was not part of the record, although Nihlus wasn't sure that- "First of all, they're not my mothers. You are. So yes, you're gross and they're not." Then Nihlus discovered something else about Gems: they were enough like humans and asari to be able to blush. "Secondly, I could never think Sapphire is gross. I'm still planning to court her and steal her from Ruby so we can become our own awesome love-powered fusion. I just need to wait another six thousand years so I'm mature enough, she said."

"That's so adora-"

"It is not! No child of mi-"

"Will you two pipe down before we defuse?" Malachite let out a loud grunt and stumbled backward as the newest arrival unloaded a powerful plasma blast into her chest, her massive right foot just barely missing Nihlus and Kyanite. Lunging forward, she retaliated with a powerful right hook to the side of the colossus's head that sent it stumbling back several yards on its four spindly legs. "Oh, don't think I forgot about you." Opting to ignore the smaller platforms for the time being, Malachite engaged in what was a decidedly one-sided fight, bobbing and weaving around all of the large geth's attacks with a nimbleness that belied her size. Suddenly, she paused with one massive fist around the geth's neck and looked around curiously. "I sense something. A presence I've not felt since-"

"If you're evil and you're on the rise, you can count on the four of us taking you down! Cuz we're good and evil never beats us; we'll win the fight and then go out for pizzas!" A translucent pink and blue shield went whipping past Nihlus's face, ricocheting off a handful of geth troopers and knocking them back before burying itself in one of the larger red units and detonating. Striding across the decking, her unusual lilac and white armor gleaming in the sunlight, Shepard held her right hand over her stomach for a few seconds before pulling a massive pink cutlass out of… somewhere… and then generating a new shield over her left forearm. "We… are the Crystal Gems! We'll always save the day! And if you think we can't, we'll alwa-" Shrieking, Shepard brought her sword up just in time to bisect the geth that Malachite had donkey kicked at her, sending the two pieces tumbling past on either side of her. "Really, Mala?!"

Having evidently grown tired of her game, Malachite curled her wings around her body so that she could stab them deep into the colossus's body before flicking them outward, tearing the automaton to pieces. As the remains tumbled to the spaceport deck in a series of crashes and screeches, she shot a smirk back over her shoulder. "Less singing, more sword swinging. And don't call me Mala." Rolling her eyes, Shepard made a rude gesture at Malachite's back before dashing forward and throwing herself into the thick of battle.

As he watched geth after geth fall to Shepard's sword, Nihlus was peripherally aware of the biotic Alenko and the unknown brunette they'd picked up along the way moving over to join him and Kyanite. Pondering this latest turn of events, he found himself… conflicted. Nihlus wasn't sure which was most disturbing: that the Systems Alliance had managed to fool the Council so thoroughly when it came to their newest Spectre candidate, that his sources hadn't been able to discover that duplicity… or that he was going to be evaluating a woman who - at least according to the sparse records humanity had been willing to part with - had access to a teleporting pink lion and directed energy cannons capable of shooting down starships.

Quite possibly the lion. He wasn't terribly fond of animals, especially felines.


	2. Chapter 2

Joe's Note: Back by demand that - while hardly overwhelming - was greater than anticipated? The continuing adventures of Commander Yvonne Shepard, and her expanded Crystal Gems. Given the number of _Steven Universe_ fanfics out there both pure and crossover, I'm sure that I'm not the first person to use a Kyanite or a Hyalite as an original Gem. That said, both of mine were created for this story and any similarities - superficial or noteworthy - to another character by that name in another author's stories is purely coincidental. Meaning if you think they're amusing and want to use them, please ask first. Thanks. And now on with the show.  
Dedications & Thanks: To Nicholas, Alexander, Howard, Daniel, Christopher, Luke, Zachary, Marc, Ziryo, Elliot, Crusifikz70, Timothy, Leigh, Jason, Chris, George, Koby, Ken, MJ, Thyatira, William, Wil, Invernos, Jack, Pat, Warren, Chris, Mitch, and Jess for sponsoring me on , and making it easier for me to spend more of my time writing. Additional thanks go to the incomparable LogicalPremise for his amazing set of references covering many untouched facets of the _Mass Effect_ universe, as well as listening to me ramble about ideas for the future of this story.

* * *

"Doctor? Doctor Chakwas? I think she's waking up."

What was Ashley's first clue, that she'd opened her eyes or that she'd pushed herself up into a seated position on the examination table? Yvonne shook her head despondently as she brought her hands up to rub her temples. While she logically knew that her human subordinates would pale in comparison toward the Gems that she'd worked with previously, she hadn't expected them to be so… well, stupid. At least the woman wasn't part of the _Normandy_ 's crew; they were supposed to be some of the best that the Systems Alliance had to offer and if Ashley represented that… well, Yvonne would have feared for humanity's future. Suddenly, she realized that the head she was cradling in her hands felt odd, and her field of vision was far too wide. "What in the world?"

"You had us worried there, Shepard." The change in her vision became even more apparent as Yvonne looked up, somehow managing to follow Karen Chakwas from the door of the medical bay all the way to the woman's desk and then over to stand in front of her without turning her head an inch. "How are you feeling?"

Yvonne frowned as she pondered the question. Apart from the misshapen face and being able to see more than she should have been able to? "I feel… fine. A bit of a headache, but other than that? I feel great, actually. What happened? How long was I out?"

Consulting her datapad, Chakwas frowned. "Exactly fifteen hours to the minute. If I didn't know how normal your body isn't, I might be surprised by that. As it stands? Not so much. As for what happened, I was hoping you could tell me. The only other person in the area at the time of the incident hasn't regenerated yet; nobody else had a clear line of sight on the beacon when all this unfolded and so there's far too much supposition going around for my liking."

The only… Yvonne turned her head slightly, looking over at the other exam table, or more specifically at the triangular green gem that was resting on the pillow at the head. "Oh, Peridot. Guess one terrible encounter with Prothean tech wasn't enough for you, huh? Can't wait to see your face when you reform as…" Pausing, Yvonne ran her fingertips over her face again, comparing what she was feeling to the memories Rose had of the Gems' first visit to the Prothean outpost on Mars. "Huh. Let me guess, I'm a pink Prothean right now, aren't I?"

"Quite. Like I said, if I was any less familiar with your kind, I'd be alarmed or amazed. You'd already shapeshifted by the time they brought you back to the ship; I'm assuming that means you came in contact with the beacon as well. Actually, I'm hoping you did because if that's not the reason for these readings, you may be very ill." After tapping at her datapad for a few seconds, Chakwas turned and presented it to Yvonne. "I know you're not the most scientific-minded of the Gems, but what do you make of this? Abnormal beta waves, unusually active alpha waves, heightened rapid eye movement… I've never seen anything like this among either humans or Gems. It almost looks like intense dreaming, but-"

"When I was asleep, I saw… something. I'm not sure what. Death. Destruction. On a level that even the Diamond Authority never achieved. It was horrifying. I'm pretty sure I was watching the fall of the Protheans; why they would record that and set their beacons up to blast people with it, I have no idea." Yvonne shuddered and took the datapad from Chawkwas, looking the information over before shrugging and handing it back to the doctor. Chakwas was right; despite all Yvonne had learned over both human lives and millennia as Rose Quartz, electroencephalography was not a field she had any real degree of knowledge in. The activity drew her attention to her tridactyl hands, and she frowned as it took her several tries to return them to their normal pentadactyl configuration. "Oh, that's not good. I haven't had problems with shapeshifting since back when I was Steven."

Before Chakwas could respond to that, the women found themselves rudely reminded that they were not alone in the medical bay. "So how does that work, then?" Ashley blushed faintly as both Chakwas and Yvonne's attention shifted to her, but stood her ground and pushed on anyway. "I figured that you were related to Steven Universe and Rose Quartz somehow because of the shield, but I thought you were a descendant or something. But you make it sound like you and him are the same person?"

Yvonne shook her head; while Ashley was aware of her true identity after the mission to Eden Prime - and a few other tidbits because neither Yvonne nor Chakwas had demonstrated the good sense to kick the marine out of the medical bay yet - that didn't mean Yvonne had to spill all her secrets to the brunette. "Need to know, Ashley, and you don't need to know. Speaking of which, we're about to start getting even further into that territory so… dismissed." Ashley actually appeared to pout at that for a few seconds before remembering who she was dealing with, snapping off a hasty salute before hurrying out the door. Turning back to Chakwas, Yvonne nodded. "To answer your question? Yes, I came in contact with the beacon. Or it came in contact with me. Peridot tried to interface with it and got poofed for her troubles. Some kind of security field came online, trapping her gem even after she retreated. I tried to get close enough to create a Steven Bubble around me and Peridot, hoping that I could use that to free her. Instead, I got sucked into the field too. I remember it lifting me into the air, and then pain, and then I was waking up here. With a brain full of… hell."

Frowning, Chakwas dutifully recorded all of the new information before shaking her head. "Even with the information provided by your fellow Gems, we still know so little about the Protheans. This is unprecedented on so many levels that I don't even know if I should be concerned. Peridot and Pearl have managed to directly connect to the Mars Archives, but I believe this is the first time in history that anyone has managed to interact with a…" She trailed off as the door slid open to admit two new visitors. "Captain Anderson. And Pearl."

David Anderson let out a low chuckle as a pale, slender form slipped past him into the medical bay, making a beeline for where Yvonne was sitting. "I kept her occupied for as long as I could but once you messaged me that the commander was awake… well, there was no stopping her. How's our XO holding up, Doctor?"

Skidding to a stop in front of Yvonne, Pearl cupped the taller woman's face between both hands and stared into her eyes - presumably four of them with very odd pupils if Yvonne really was a Prothean and had assumed a form identical to the one Peridot had ended up with after her Martian misadventure - for a few seconds before shooting an irritated look over at her captain. "She's currently a Prothean. How do you think she's doing?" Shaking her head, Pearl returned her attention to Yvonne. "Do we need to fuse or-"

"Yes, but not right now. Even the cargo bay would be pushing it; we'll need somewhere big enough to hold our combined form." Pressing a quick kiss to Pearl's lips, Yvonne leaned back and raised her hands between them. "Fixing these was a lot harder than it should have been. I think I'm actually part or all Prothean right now. Not sure how that works, but hey. So unless someone can talk me through how to reshape Prothean guts into human guts without killing myself in the process? I don't think I can fix myself without fusing."

Pearl shook her head in resigned amusement before leaning in and hugging Yvonne tightly. When she finally pulled back, she tsked softly before waggling a finger at the taller woman. "From now on, you're not allowed to leave the ship without either me or one of the other Gems along to keep an eye on you." Opening her mouth to argue, Yvonne was cut off by Pearl pressing a finger to her lips. "Maybe you should save arguing with my decision for when you're no longer a pink Prothean due to one of your unsupervised misadventures? Honestly, you're worse than Steven these days."

Leaning back, Yvonne crossed her arms over her chest as she sulked. "The others were along for Eden Prime and this still happened. Hell, Peridot is the reason this happened to me!"

"Yes and I'll be having a vey long talk with Peridot about her behavior once she regenerates." Pearl shot a look of disgust over at the gem sitting on the other examination bed. "You might be getting a very pretty new necklace for your birthday this year. Or perhaps a new hand mirror."

Yvonne's eyes widened and then she reached out, grabbing Pearl's hands and drawing the Gem's attention back to her. "Woah now. I love that you care about me, really I do… but that's crossing the line into scary obsession, Pearl. Peridot made a mistake. For the first time in like, a hundred years. That's reprimand territory, not permanent disembodiment territory."

Conflicting emotions warred on Pearl's face; she had trained herself to defend Rose - and her alternate forms - to the death, but had also shifted her gem's natural submissiveness to focus on Rose. Should she do what Rose asked? Or protect Rose against her wishes? Finally, the lithe Gem sighed and nodded. "As you wish, Yvonne. But you're still taking a bodyguard with you from now on. Rose would be very unhappy if she regenerated because you lost your life doing something foolish."

"I'll take Lapis."

"Jasper is more capable."

"Lapis can pass as an asari. And she actually likes me."

"Just out of curiosity, do I get any say in this? Considering that it's my ship, Shepard is nominally a member of my crew, and she's supposed to be running missions under my command? Or could we perhaps table this particular discussion for the time being so that we can talk about the fact that the Spectre sent to evaluate Shepard now knows the truth about Rose Quartz's fate? A secret that the Systems Alliance has managed to keep hidden from the Council for all these years at your kind's insistence, Pearl?" Anderson looked from Yvonne's bemused face to Pearl's glaring one before raising his hands in surrender and taking a step back. "I stand corrected. Discussing how you intend to usurp my authority is definitely more important. Please, by all means then, continue."

"Kyanite can pass for an asari, is stronger than Lapis, and also likes you."

"Kyanite would cause an intergalactic incident."

"True. Fine, you'll take Lapis. But I'm guarding you aboard the Citadel personally."

"You can guard my body as often as you'd like, my Pearl. All you need to do is ask."

* * *

Jasper scowled as she stomped her way down the gangway connecting the _Normandy_ to the C-Sec secured dock that the ship had been directed to. Not that there was any chance of them being routed elsewhere; as soon as Rose… err, Yvonne had been stationed aboard the experimental frigate, her pet Pearl had commandeered a handful of lesser Gems from their compound in Beach City back on Earth. Reallocated to the Citadel to act as 'support' for their illustrious leader, they'd been confined to a singular dock and the attached facilities, ensuring that Dock 422 would be the only place the _Normandy_ would be landing for the foreseeable future… and forcing Jasper to come face-to-face with more copies of the last Gem she wanted to see at the moment. And some less independent Peridots, but she didn't have a problem with them right now. "You don't get to split us up any more than you do Ruby and Sapphire. You either get both of us or neither of us. End of story."

"That's a specious comparison and you know it; Ruby and Sapphire can't be split up because they're Garnet." Not taking the hint from the strides long enough to force her to jog to keep up, Pearl doggedly kept pace at Jasper's elbow. "You and Lapis clearly are not in the same situation, and therefore it is very possible to split you up."

Pausing so suddenly that Pearl rushed past her and had to loop back around to face her, Jasper raised an eyebrow. "Would you really rather have me and Lapis running around as Malachite constantly? Because if that's what it will take to shut you up…"

Pearl blanched at the taller Gem's words, shaking her head rapidly. "No, no. Not at all. I just…" Sighing, she closed the distance between them and reached up to rest a dainty hand on Jasper's shoulder. "You care about Lapis. You love her. That's why we're having this argument in this first place. It also means that you understand why I need to do this. I need to protect Ro… Yvonne."

"Then do it yourself."

"I can't."

"Then take both of us. Except you won't, because the great Rose Quartz - or what passes for her - has spoken and at your core, you're still her property. Her obedient little pet Pearl." Jasper sneered and pushed Pearl out of her way before continuing forward. "Speaking of which, shouldn't you be hanging off her arm right now instead of bothering me? It's what you were made for."

Hands fisting at her sides, Pearl glared at Jasper for a few more seconds before stalking back up the gangway toward the _Normandy_. Looking back over her shoulder, the orange Gem watched as Pearl was met halfway by Rose in Prothean form. Yvonne. Whatever. The pink-skinned Gem smiled indulgently as Pearl began to babble, taking the slender Gem into her arms and twirling her as they made their way toward Jasper. Just as they cleared the gangway, Yvonne dipped Pearl and their forms went white, fusing together into a blonde Gem that towered over even Jasper. A nearly perfect fusion, the likes of which Jasper and Lapis still couldn't manage, with only a spare pair of eyes to give away that it wasn't a singular Gem. Much to Jasper's surprise, this version of Rainbow Quartz managed to retain all of Yvonne's armor, only to have Pearl's obsession with rule and order cause it to revert to Systems Alliance standard black with red and white trim.

And then Jasper was out of time to observe and analyze, the fusion crossing the distance between them in the blink of an eye and kicking the smaller Gem's legs out from under her. As she hit the deck with a grunt, Rainbow Quartz planted a foot in the middle of Jasper's chest and pinned her down. "Jasper darling… what did I tell you about calling my Pearl property?"

"Not to."

"And you did it anyway."

"You call her 'your' Pearl. Why can't I?"

Sighing, Rainbow Quartz removed her foot from Jasper's chest and sank to her knees beside the fallen Gem. "We've both called her 'your' Lapis but that doesn't mean she's your property, now does it? Pearl can't help where she came from or how we met, but she's not that Gem anymore. And she hasn't been for the entire time you've known her, so you have absolutely no excuse." Leaning in closer, the blonde Gem lowered her voice. "Big things are coming, Jasper. Huge, galaxy-changing things. Garnet's seen them. Battles the likes of which our kind has never seen. But if I can't trust you to have my back, you're going to be sitting them out and so is Tiger's Eye. Is that what you want?" Eyes widening, Jasper shook her head rapidly. As powerful as each of them was individually, the two quartzes had only fused into Tiger's Eye on a handful of occasions, the last of which was before humanity left its home system. Back when Rose was still Rose. If an enemy was coming that would require her and Rose to fuse… there was no way Jasper wanted to miss out on that! "Then you know what you have to do."

Jasper sat up, rubbing her chest for a few seconds before nodding. "I'm… grr. I'm sorry. I'm still not going to let you run off with Lapis. But I'm sorry for calling calling you property, Pearl."

"Good enough. Now…" Hopping to her feet, Rainbow Quartz clapped her hands together. "You, Lapis, Peridot, and Kyanite were the only Gems who were on Eden Prime from start to finish. Peridot still hasn't regenerated, bringing Kyanite into an important meeting would be a disaster, and Lapis lacks your military background. So guess who gets to come with me to meet the Council and serve as the official Crystal Gems representative?"

…on second thought, being Tiger's Eye was't that great…


End file.
